Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Student Booted for Being Christian: Missouri Univ.

Attorneys for Andrew Cash have filed a federal lawsuit against Missouri State University (MSU) saying that the graduate student was kicked out of a master's counseling program because he said that validating same-sex marriage violated his religious beliefs.

“[Andrew Cash] was targeted and punished for expressing his Christian worldview regarding a hypothetical situation concerning whether he would provide counseling services to a gay/homosexual couple. . . . Since he did not give the ‘correct’ answer required by his counseling instructors, he was considered unsuitable for counseling and terminated from the program.”-- Complaint, filed in the Western District of Missouri Court

Andrew Cash said he was removed from the master's counseling program at Missouri State in 2014 after telling a professor in 2011 he would not counsel gay couples. Cash started the program in 2007.

The Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based public interest law firm, filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Cash. The lawsuit in federal court in Springfield names the university's board of governors and several school officials as defendants. It claims the university denied Cash's rights to religion and free speech and seeks unspecified monetary and punitive damages.

According to the lawsuit, W. K. Boyce, executive director of the Christian-based counseling center where Cash interned, made a presentation to one of Cash's classes in 2011. In response to a question during that presentation, Boyce said he would counsel gay individuals separately but would refer gay couples to other counselors who did not share his religious beliefs.

About a week later, Cash's internship coordinator questioned Cash about his own views on counseling gay couples, the lawsuit said. Cash said he also would counsel gay people individually but refer them to someone else for couple counseling.

The lawsuit says Cash was a student at MSU in January 2011 when he began an internship at the Springfield Marriage and Family Institute, a Christian-based organization.

Cash told his internship coordinator, Kristi Perryman, that he would also not counsel gay couples, according to the lawsuit, and Perryman told Cash that went against the American Counseling Association's code of ethics.

The lawsuit says Perryman told Cash he was not allowed to continue his internship at the Springfield Marriage and Family institute because of "ethical concerns."

In November 2014, the lawsuit says, Cash was removed from the master's program. The lawsuit says he had a 3.81 GPA.

Andrew Cash claims the University is violating its mission of being a place for free exchange of ideas and values, both religious and secular.

"Traditionally, universities have been places for free exchange of ideas and values, both religious and secular," said Thomas Olp, Executive Director and Attorney for the Thomas More Society. "Unfortunately, Missouri State University departed from its mission by denying educational opportunity to Mr. Cash simply because he expressed, in an academic setting, sincerely-held religious beliefs which his advisor deemed hostile to her own and therefore unacceptable.

"An educator should not permit her own ideology and agenda to ruin the educational opportunities of her students. We feel the responsibility, on Mr. Cash's behalf, to try to correct this."

Emily Brooker sued the university in 2006, accusing the school and a faculty member of violating her First Amendment rights when she refused to sign a letter supporting same-sex adoption. Brooker was a student in the School of Social Work.

Brooker alleged in her lawsuit that faculty members interrogated her for over two hours and asked her questions such as: “Do you think gays and lesbians are sinners?” and “Do you think I am a sinner?”

Brooker made national headlines before reaching a settlement with the university.

. . . [Cash's] suit claims that he was unable to complete his counseling curriculum, and is now prevented from working as a counselor, causing him daily emotional suffering. He is seeking for MSU to reinstate him in his counseling program with safeguards put in place so that he can successfully earn his degree.

As a part of the degree program, students are required to complete clinical internship hours. Cash started his internship in January 2011 with the Springfield Marriage and Family Institute, which had been approved by MSU as an internship site. At least one other student in the M.S. in Counseling program had previously completed an internship there. The Institute is a Christian-based counseling agency, and MSU knew this when it approved Cash's internship in January 2011.

. . . Although Cash worked with the administration to find a different internship, the faculty advisor required him, as a condition of being re-accepted to a new internship, to prove to her that he "had learned something from the experience at the Springfield Marriage and Family Institute." Later, the same advisor wrote a letter to department officials claiming that it appeared to her – despite a total lack of evidence – that she suspected that Cash had not recanted from his earlier-stated religious views. She then made a recommendation, which was accepted, to force Cash into "remediation."